Sometimes, the quality and talent of anyone costs too much.
On Thursday night, in Glendale, the Minnesota Wild’s Mats Zuccarello, Marcus Foligno and Eric Staal had a goal apiece and three points on the night in an 8-5 win over the Arizona Coyotes.
“We were able to be resilient and come away with eight goals,” Minnesota’s Ryan Hartman said. “It’s pretty impressive.”
It was an ugly third period for the Coyotes.
“That was like an August game for us, a preseason game,” Arizona head coach Rick Tocchet said. “We were very loose. I don’t know if it was home-itis, but some guys were really struggling to play the right way.”
Devan Dubnyk made 35 saves for the win.
“I didn’t know we were going to get eight (goals), and I just tried to stay calm,” Dubnyk said. “I felt good and comfortable again, so I’m not going to start changing what I was doing. And we just responded every single time.”
Jakob Chychrun scored twice for the Coyotes.
“It’s just disappointing,” Chychrun said. “We were playing well, but we let them outwork us. It’s that simple.”
The Wild struck for four goals in the second and third periods.
Ryan Donato and Marcus Foligno scored in the middle frame for the Wild.
“It’s stressful with these high-scoring games. Frustrating, but also rewarding,” Foligno said. “Obviously that’s not an ideal win for us, but we were able to find a way to get two points.”
Phil Kessel, Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Clayton Keller had single markers for the Coyotes.
“We get behind, we get above, they tie it up in the third,” Wild coach Bruce Boudreau said. “They have all the crowd going crazy and then we come right back and get two more. I think that’s pretty special resiliency for this group.”
Brad Hunt and Ryan Suter also had strikes for the Wild.
“The goals against were what they were, but [Dubnyk] still made some incredible saves out there,” Hartman said. “It was just one of those things where you just want to get through it and win it for him.”
Luke Kunin added an empty-net goal to mercifully end the scoring.
“We had our chances but we had no defensive conscience,” Tocchet said. “It’s uncharacteristic stuff. Maybe it’s the (post-trade) buzz around here, that all of a sudden we’re going to become the Harlem Globetrotters. It’s frustrating, but it’s a good lesson for us.”
[WATCH:Â All Wild vs. Coyotes highlights]
Darcy Kuemper got the start for the Coyotes and made 25 saves; he had to be helped off the ice with injury with just over three minutes left on the game clock.
“It was a tough one (injury) to watch, but I’m taking the positive road,” Tocchet said. “I’ve seen things that looked bad and the next day weren’t as bad. That’s what we’re hoping.”
Antti Raanta iced for 48 seconds to finish the game, he did not face a shot on goal.
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